Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S. under Trump-era policies have exposed brutal conditions and human rights violations at El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison, describing it as a ‘cemetery of living men’ where beatings, sexual abuse, and torture were routine. Released in a July 2025 prisoner exchange, eight detainees provided firsthand accounts to BBC News of their four-month ordeal in Latin America’s largest prison, alleging systematic cruelty sanctioned by Salvadoran authorities and enabled through a controversial U.S.-El Salvador deportation agreement.
Who: The victims include 252 Venezuelan men deported from the United States between February and March 2025, most claiming legal residency or asylum-seeking status. Eight survivors—Arturo Suárez, Andry Hernández, Joén Suárez, Wilken Flores, Andy Perozo, Edwuar Hernández, Mervin Yamarte, and Ringo Rincón—shared testimonies. Perpetrators are identified as guards and officials at Cecot prison, operated under President Nayib Bukele’s administration, with U.S. involvement via the Department of Homeland Security and former President Trump’s immigration policies.
What: Detainees endured regular beatings (often with sticks while handcuffed or naked), psychological torture, and sexual abuse. Andry Hernández, an openly gay man, reported targeted sexual violence by guards. Prisoners were denied basic necessities: sleeping on bare metal bunks, eating without utensils, lacking toilet paper, and having no access to sunlight or timekeeping. Medical neglect was systemic, with detainees given unidentified weekly pills that caused bloody urine. A protest using a blood-written sheet demanding legal assistance was violently suppressed.
When: Deportations occurred under Trump’s expanded ‘Alien Enemies Act’ invocations starting February 2025. Detainees were imprisoned from March until their surprise release in July 2025 during a U.S.-Venezuela prisoner swap. Testimonies were published on August 18, 2025, following post-release interviews in Venezuela.
Where: Abuse occurred at Cecot (Center for the Confinement of Terrorism) in El Salvador—a 57-acre mega-prison housing 40,000 inmates. The facility features electrified fences, surveillance towers, and windowless concrete cells where Venezuelans were isolated in overcrowded units dubbed ‘the cemetery of living men.’
Why: The Trump administration labeled deportees as suspected Tren de Aragua gang members based on tattoo profiling, though most had no criminal records. El Salvador accepted them under a bilateral agreement touted by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as a deterrent to ‘illegal immigration.’ Salvadoran authorities used the transfers to showcase President Bukele’s ‘hardline’ security agenda while obscuring prison conditions from international monitors.
How: Guards enforced silence through stress positions and ‘The Island’—dark punishment cells where masked personnel tortured inmates. Prisoners described orchestrated deception during Red Cross visits, with temporary improvements like mattresses or outdoor access staged for photos. When U.S. officials like Noem toured Cecot, detainees attempting to expose conditions were replaced in camera frames with Salvadoran inmates.
Impact: Survivors report lasting physical and psychological trauma, including kidney damage, scars from self-harm during protests, and persistent fear triggered by routine sounds like jingling keys. Families in Venezuela faced four months of uncertainty about their relatives’ fates. The case exposes flaws in U.S. deportation vetting and highlights human rights crises in Bukele’s penal system, already criticized by Amnesty International.
What’s Next: Arturo Suárez and Andry Hernández plan a documentary about their experiences. Legal advocates urge investigations into DHS and Salvadoran officials, though neither government responded to BBC’s allegations. A U.S. district court already blocked further Alien Enemies Act deportations in April 2025, citing due process violations—a ruling that may gain traction with these testimonies.